May I begin by paying respect to honoring and acknowledging the inconceivable, unlimited suffering of the world. I wish that our gathering together and looking at the teachings of the bodhisattvas, the teaching for those who wish to be of service in this world of suffering, will be beneficial in this world of suffering. We have been studying for more than two years a huge scripture which endeavors to teach living beings how to be sources of compassion and guide beings to freedom from suffering so they may dwell together in peace and harmony.

[01:33]

This work obviously is not complete, but we, in some sense, foolishly continue the work and make our little contribution with great joy that we can make at least a little contribution to this immense project of addressing and liberating all beings. This scripture gives what may seem like an overwhelming ocean of teachings. Just like there's an overwhelming ocean of suffering, there's an overwhelming ocean of teachings to help us not run away from the suffering and not run towards it, but be still

[02:35]

and open to it with compassion. For the last two meetings that we had online for this community, I've been bringing up and getting ready to study book 15. And talking about it a little on the last, if you want to check out the last two online recordings, I'm getting ready to bring up what I'm bringing up today, which is book 15, which is called The Ten Abodes. The Ten Abodes of Bodhisattvas. The Ten Abodes of Those... who aspire to live their life with compassion and realize wisdom for the welfare of this world.

[03:45]

Tyler, could you move that way a little bit, please? And Norbert, could you move a little bit away from, if you could stand it, to move away from Sonia? Thank you. Is that all right? The distance? Yeah, we can do it. This is actually training. This training of this sutra is training living beings how to be intimate with other living beings so that they may be free from suffering. intimacy an appropriate conversation so the title of this chapter should be addressed right now it's called the ten abodes and we're in a temple called no abode so these ten abodes are the ten abodes of

[05:07]

of the bodhisattvas who do not abide in anything. They do not abide in anything. They embrace all things without sinking into them or attaching to them. So this is a chapter we have a chance to practice not abiding in the teaching of the ten abodes which are teachings of ten practices of ten ways of training so the bodhisattvas enter into these ten ways of training without trying to get anything because their mind has no abode it also has no clinging or greed So no abode enters into the teaching of the ten abodes.

[06:15]

And by the way, these ten abodes are ten ways of describing what we call sitting meditation. I just spilled some lovely tea on this lovely robe. And I hope you enjoy the tea, dear world. And I'll try to be careful in future. Drinking of tea. And here's a little joke before we plunge into this overwhelming topic, which is sometimes I listen to the recordings of these sessions and they have like, there's like, is it like a siligram?

[07:25]

What do you call that pattern that shows the... What's it called? Is it called a siligram? Sonogram. Sonogram that shows the little beeps where the sound has been recording and when I look at it I notice there's big spaces between them like there's a good morning and then space I space want space to talk to you space there's a lot of space in those recordings And I thought of something that I heard, that this person talks a lot, and there's spaces in what she's saying as though she's a person who's used to being listened to.

[08:30]

And if you're being listened to, then you might be aware of, are you giving people enough space to hear you rather than zooming ahead before they even heard you? So you speak, you're listened to, and you speak again. And that also reminds me of another joke, which I was on the radio one time. and talking to somebody on NPR. No, it was KQED. And the interviewer was interviewing me and another weirdo. And then there was a break, for some reason, in the conversation, to get some announcement that the station wanted to make. And during that break, he noticed that some of us were making some space between what we said.

[09:42]

In other words, there was some silence in the interview. And he says, he noted the silence. He said, of course, on the radio, silence is deadly. Because if you go silent, people think they lost the channel and changed the channel. So they wanted to, we're still here. He's not talking, but we're still here. reminds me of another joke which is I confess I'm in a kind of competition with a gigantic thing that's happening called Spotify I have invited myself to be in competition with Spotify and how am I in competition with Spotify? by being silent And one of the Spotify former employees said, the only real competition to Spotify is silence.

[10:52]

And this is a competition not to beat or get rid of Spotify, but to compete with it. And I suggest the etymology of competition as co-petition. that the origins of the word were people who were in some kind of a struggle and together they co-petitioned the gods. They both petitioned the gods to bless them in this event that they were going to start. So I am co-petitioning the Buddhas with silence to meet Spotify's music. And you could say a lot and billions of people are listening on Spotify. And I don't know how many people are listening to this silence.

[11:58]

Please excuse my joke session. Okay, so, at the beginning, yes? Just to say, I think your long pauses would be welcome on Spotify. It'd be better than radio. Did you say that you think the long pauses should be welcomed by Spotify? I agree with you. And I also should welcome Spotify's music. And I do. Would you like your thoughts to be on Spotify? Let's talk about that later. My first offering to Spotify would be maybe start with five minutes of silence. See how that goes over. They might like it.

[13:14]

Here it is, the latest hot Hot offerings. But be careful. You have to really listen to this one. John Cage did that. People got really mad. John Cage already tried that and people got mad. Well, I'm not sure. I don't want to make people mad. So we'll go back to book 15, which is called, what's the name of it? Ten Abodes. Ten Abodes. Ten Abodes. Here's how it starts. At that time, and again, at that time refers to the time of this great assembly that's described in the previous chapters. At the time of this great assembly assisted by the awesome power of the Buddha. We're in the assembly with the Buddha and now

[14:18]

at the time of being in this assembly with the Buddha, assisted by the power of Buddha, a Bodhisattva, Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva, entered a state of awareness. That's not what the sutra says. The sutra says, the Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva entered, quotes, The bodhisattva's infinite expedient means samadhi. At the beginning of this chapter, the bodhisattva's dharma wisdom, who has been featured in the previous chapters, together with the Buddha's support, enters a samadhi, a state of awareness, which is a state of awareness with the Buddha.

[15:20]

He doesn't enter a state of awareness which is just dharma, wisdom, bodhisattva's awareness. He's entering an awareness that he shares with Buddha. It's not limited to an individual human consciousness, this awareness. This samadhi includes the individual human consciousness of the Bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom. His individual consciousness is in this samadhi. But also Buddha's awareness is here too. And also since Buddha's awareness is here, the awareness of all sentient beings is in this samadhi too. It is an awareness that includes ordinary sentient beings and Buddhas. They're together. There's an awareness that we share.

[16:25]

And it includes each of our individual awarenesses. And this awareness in this chapter is talking about an awareness. And again, it's a samadhi, so it's an awareness that's undistracted, calm, open and infinitely flexible so it can include all beings. And the name of it is the Bodhisattva's Infinite Skill and Means Samadhi. It's about the Bodhisattva's infinite ways of teaching and helping people. Samadhi. And again, this Bodhisattva did not enter it by her own power, entered it holding hands with Buddha. Now she has entered this Samadhi.

[17:29]

So this Samadhi is going to be described as... Now we're going to get a description of what it's like to be in an awareness which is, if you excuse the expression, transpersonal. But transpersonal does not, in this case, mean separate from personal. It means not just personal and including all persons. So the bodhisattva has entered this transpersonal awareness with the Buddhas And then it says, thereupon, due to the power of this samadhi, there came from beyond numberless worlds in the ten directions, as numerous as atoms in a thousand Buddha realms, Buddhas innumerable as atoms in a thousand Buddha lands.

[18:35]

Okay, we've entered the samadhi. And then in the samadhi, many, many, many Buddhas from all over the universe come and appear in the samadhi. They were already in it, but now they're going to appear in it to the bodhisattva who is injured. By the way, it's not a little joke, the way they appear is not according to people's understanding of what they look like. The way they actually are appears. And they do appear. And they do appear and they do appear and they do appear. And it says all are identically named. All the Buddhas who appear in the Samadhi have the same name. What's the name? It's Dharma Wisdom.

[19:40]

Not Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva, though. Dharma Wisdom Buddha. So the Bodhisattva enters this Bodhisattva Samadhi together with the Buddha's support. And then all many, many, many, many Buddhas appear from all over the universe and they all have the same name as the Bodhisattva. Except their name is Dharma Wisdom Buddha. And then all these Buddhas, named Dharma Wisdom, address the Bodhisattva, Dharma Wisdom. And I'm imagining they address them in concert, not one after another, because that would take forever.

[20:51]

So altogether, the Buddhas address the Bodhisattva, and they say... Good indeed, good indeed, child of good family, child of good family, that you have been able to enter the Bodhisattva's infinite expedient means samadhi. That's going on in this awareness, this samadhi. The Buddhas are appearing. and honoring the bodhisattva who has entered the bodhisattva samadhi. So when we sit, each of us sits and in the presence of Buddha we are guided into the samadhi and our name comes with us. Like Angela.

[21:54]

and Jiayin and Gloria and Eric these names come we get our name and in the Samadhi all the Buddhas have the same name as us and they also have the same name as other people they're intimate with everybody so intimate that they have the same name at least in chapter 15. So it's really good that you enter this samadhi. And then it says, you're able to enter this samadhi because the Buddhas in each of the ten directions, who are as numerous as atoms in a thousand Buddha lands, have joined

[22:58]

in assisting you with their spiritual power. And that you have entered this samadhi and are unable to expound the Dharma is also due to the awesome spiritual power arising from the vow of Vajrochanas to Tathagata. and from the power of the good roots of your own practice that you've been cultivating. Sitting and allowing yourself to enter this samadhi. Sitting and allowing yourself to be present with awakening without trying to get anything. Honoring awakening without trying to get anything.

[24:00]

This requires some training. And then further, all these Buddhas say that this has occurred is to enable an increase in understanding of Buddha's wisdom. To enable deep entry into the realm of Dharma. that you have entered this realm and you have received all this support is to enable the increase of understanding of Buddha's wisdom. And then there's a long list of all the things that are enabled by being in this samadhi. And they're just too wonderful for me to read. And then after listening to all the things that are enabled, the Buddhas say, that is to say, this is to bring about the arising of the ten abodes of the Bodhisattva.

[25:23]

Enter this samadhi to bring about these ten abodes. And then it says, child of good family, you should accept the assistance of Buddha's awesome spiritual power, and then expound these teachings. At this time, the Buddhas then bestowed the Dharma on Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva. And they have bestowed all kinds of knowledges. So in this samadhi that we're practicing with all beings, we receive many knowledges. And then it goes on. At this time, each of the Buddhas extended their right hand and rubbed the crown of Dharma wisdoms

[26:35]

Dharma wisdom bodhisattva then arose from the meditation and told the bodhisattvas who are in the meditation with him. He's been empowered to give teaching in the samadhi and now he arrives from the samadhi and starts giving the teaching to the other bodhisattvas who wish to learn about the ten abodes. So at the beginning he enters this transpersonal realm where everybody is present then he arises from this transpersonal realm and then as individual bodhisattva he talks to the other bodhisattvas back into ordinary consciousness you might say. But having been, having received all this support and all these teachings in the samadhi and now sharing them with all beings who were in the samadhi but who need somebody to tell them about the samadhi that they were in.

[27:58]

They didn't know they were in the samadhi. And the Buddhists did not pat them on the head, apparently. And the Buddhists did not ask them to teach. But they did ask Dharma wisdom to teach, and now Dharma wisdom is going to teach these ten abodes to all the beings who were there so that they'll know what the samadhi is, where these ten abodes are living. I appreciate your smile. I don't know what it's about. It's okay. You don't have to tell me. Do you know what it's about? He says he does know. Would you tell me later? He will. I was going to say I can hardly wait, but I can. All right.

[29:02]

So he's been given an assignment. in Samadhi. Now he arises from the Samadhi and follows through on the invitation for him to teach about the Ten Abodes. So here's the beginning of Dharma Wisdom's teaching about the Ten Abodes. He says, Children of Buddha, Bodhisattvas, The abodes of bodhisattvas are so vast that they are equal to the realm of Dharma and the realm of empty space. That's the first teaching about these abodes. They are vast. So the bodhisattva who has a mind of no abode is telling us that the abodes are vast.

[30:10]

They're so vast that you can't get a hold of any of them And they include everything. But the first thing we're being told is that they are vast. And therefore, not to abide in. Can you say another word for abode? It's another way to say it. Dwelling? Dwelling. Yeah. The skull should be called no dwelling. In other words, don't camp out in the abodes. Don't camp out in anything. Don't camp out in sentient beings. This sentient being or that sentient being. Don't dwell means be devoted without taking up residence. Like be devoted to other sentient beings beside yourself without dwelling in them. without taking up residence. They do not want you to take up residence in them.

[31:13]

They want you to practice compassion with them and let them be in their bodhisattva position of no abode. Sometimes I'm given a little clock. Would you bring the clock and put it here? So I... I know when it's time for me to maybe stop talking and have some more space. We'll tell you. Thank you for helping me. Okay. All right. So where are we now? Dharma wisdom is going to tell us about the ten abodes, the ten dwellings of bodhisattvas who don't dwell. It's going to tell us about the ten houses of bodhisattvas who have no house.

[32:14]

I will now describe the bodhisattvas abodes which are vast, ungraspable and unavoidable. But even though they're unavoidable, we need to practice them in order to realize them. children of Buddha, the bodhisattvas have ten abodes. All Buddhas of the past, future and present have taught them, will teach them and now teach them. What do they teach? What do the Buddhas teach? The ten abodes. There's five, there's five more. What are the ten? They are, in English, The abode of the initial generation of the aspiration for awakening.

[33:25]

Number one. By the way, number one includes the next nine. But number one is a super big one. Number one. Number one. What is it? The initial, the beginning generation of the aspiration to attain authentic Buddha awakening for the welfare of this world. Number two, the abode of preparing the ground for this aspiration. Number three, the abode of cultivating in practice this aspiration. I'm adding the aspiration. I'll say that more quietly.

[34:31]

It's not in the text. The abode of acquiring noble birth. The abode of complete fulfillment of skillful means. The name of the samadhi is infinite skillful means and one of the abodes is to completely fulfill all skillful means, all ways of helping people. The abode of right mindfulness, the abode of non-regression, the abode of pure youth the abode of the prince and the abode of the crown anointing consecration the abode of the crown anointing consecration I just thought I'd make a little comment on prince

[35:42]

It could be also princess. I just found out the etymology of the word prince. It doesn't have a gender on it. It's from Greek, or Latin. First part is primus. Second part is carpe. It's what's taken first. First taken is the root of the word prince or princess. So in a way, among all the bodhisattvas, the first taken in this chapter is Dharma wisdom. All of them will be taken eventually, but this is the first one we're taking. So he's kind of like a princess. The first taken.

[36:45]

carpe diem, and this is carpe primus. These are what constitute the ten abodes of bodhisattvas, as taught by all Buddhas, oppressed present and future. And I'll just say a little bit about the first abode, okay? I mean, I'm going to try to say just a little bit. I'll try. The first one is the first arising, the first arising of the wish, of the aspiration, of the resolve to attain authentic awakening for the welfare of the world. It's the first one, the first time, is being emphasized.

[37:53]

There is also a second, third, and so on, up to infinity of arisings of this mind. But it's emphasizing the first one. And then it says, What is the first one? What is the first abode of bodhisattvas? And Dharma Wisdom asked that question. And to me, he asked the question, but he doesn't tell you what we might usually think is an answer to the question of what this initial arousing is. Rather than saying, it's this or it's that, he says... After saying, what is it? Then he describes situations in which it arises. So he doesn't say it's this or that. He just says, in this situation, in this situation, and in this situation, and in this situation, it arises.

[39:02]

It's not a thing in itself. It's not a thing that the Bodhisattva does by herself. It's not a thing that that the Buddha does by herself. It's not something that Dharma wisdom did. It's not something that Buddha did. It's something that happens in the relationship between Buddha and sentient beings. So then it lists, I think, the seven or eight situations in which this arises. And one of them is seeing the Buddha. You see the Buddha, And the Buddha doesn't make this thought arise. You're there looking at the Buddha, kind of like, wow, this is really what I've been wanting to see all my life. And in that meeting, in that appreciation, by the way, the Buddha is not having the first arising.

[40:10]

The Buddha's had it quite a few times. The Buddha is there. appreciating the sentient being, and in that mutual appreciation, this thought arises. And as I said, in this section, there's about seven situations which are not telling us what this thought is. It's telling us about something that nobody can say what it is, except that it's extremely blessed and extremely blessed. completely beneficial to this world. But you can't really say what it is, because it arises in a relationship. And like I said, there's seven situations which are mentioned. And then a little later in this chapter, they mention 36 situations in which it arises. And the seven are on the list of 36. And then also it says, sometimes

[41:13]

like this, sometimes like that, perhaps like this. There's no limit to the situations in which sentient beings and awakening are relating to each other, giving rise to this initial horizon, and then also the following ones. So I think that's enough for starters. We've now talked about the first abode and what it is is something that arises in a conversation, something that arises in a communion. And none of the participants in the communion are doing it by themselves. We're all doing this arising together. That's, for me, the really important point for this really important initial arousing of the mind. And by the way, this is chapter 15, and guess the number of the next chapter is 16.

[42:18]

And then the next one is 17. And the name of the 17th chapter of this scripture is the merit of the initial arising of the month. So the 17th chapter is about the merit of this first abode. And basically, The merit is infinite, but still keeps talking about it's infinite and then why is it infinite? It's infinite what? And then it explains how vast this mind is. The mind is vast and it tells you about how vast it is. But for now, I think we have now done the really important work of bringing up this mind which has been brought up for the first time. It has been brought up before, but we're talking about the first time it is brought up. Yes.

[43:20]

So when I think about the way that these ten of those are sequential and simultaneous. Yeah, right. Thank you. It kind of makes my head spin a little bit. It makes it hard to study. And I wonder if what you're... recommendation is for approaching that because there's an easy tendency to want to work on the first one before you work on the second. And then we keep being reminded that they're all contained in each other. Yes. So how should we harmonize with this design? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is be kind to your headspace. And if your head's spinning, I think usually the kind thing to do is to just be quiet for a while. Don't try to absorb more when you're spinning. So again, spinning, when people get out on the ocean and get on boats, their head starts spinning off sometimes.

[44:34]

And then once your head's spinning, it's not exactly a good time to maybe have a Dharma talk. First of all, maybe, like, get your sea legs before you try to, like, actually understand what the ocean is. And in this case, there may be repeated examples of where we are spun around by this extremely intense teaching. So first of all, settle down. So we're supposed to enter in samadhi and then receiving this teaching in samadhi. But if you feel like you're spinning and you're not able to settle down, then maybe just take a break and settle down. Okay. Now I'm settled. Ready to... Okay, now I'm ready to hear about this teaching. And this thing about simultaneous and sequential, maybe just work on this one right now, which is the first one.

[45:39]

And... And then the other nine are here, but let's work on the first one. And then in the first one, we're going to get more teachings about how to practice the first one. I haven't got into them yet, because I think you have a big enough bite already. But, yeah. What I would say to you, if you're not spinning too much, is that this first stage, which is simultaneous with all the other ones, including simultaneous with the Buddha, simultaneous with the complete completion of this Bible. But simultaneity is, that's one of the fundamental points of this first stage, is that it's simultaneous with the other nine and with the conclusion of the whole path. But the conclusion of the whole path in this sutra is simultaneous with the beginning.

[46:46]

Still, there's work to do in the beginning so you can realize that the whole path is contained in the beginning. And those ways of working with what's going on so that we can realize that this synchronicity is What is connected to the dichronicity, it includes it. We need to work not so much on the synchronicity or the diet, but just work on this. Simply, this mind which aspires for the first time for this thing. And then how to take care of that. And under the first abode discussion, there are ways of taking care of it. But I didn't get into them yet. And it's only a couple paragraphs, but I'm waiting to get into how you take care of the first one. But if you're seasick, maybe we should just settle down again before we take the next gulp of the teaching.

[48:01]

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Yeah, there you go. That's not on the list here. But the list doesn't say, it's this and this. It says, perhaps it's this. But also, perhaps it's seeing a picture of that girl. Perhaps it's that. Sometimes people see the Buddha, sometimes they see a girl, a beautiful girl, but sometimes they also, sometimes they see a newborn who's in great suffering. Like I saw my niece right after she was born prematurely in the hospital.

[49:07]

That niece is now in her forties. I saw her, she was born, at UC Medical Center. Now, I saw her and I think Bodhicitta arose, not for the first time, but again. Actually, I saw her and I thought, what I thought was, Eastern mountains are moving over the water. That's what I thought of, because I had just come out of a session where I was talking about this teaching But where are Buddhas born? And response is, Eastern mountains move over the water. And when I saw her suffering there, and she was, she had just had a major operation right after she was born, to connect some arteries that weren't connecting. And she was okay, but she was traumatized. And they had her sedated.

[50:11]

because she was in so much pain. But even though she was sedated, she wasn't completely knocked out. So she was trying to cry. With her whole being, she was trying to cry, but she couldn't cry very much because she was sedated. But you could see she was trying to scream. And when I saw this little girl trying to scream but not able to because she was sedated, the teaching came. of how Buddhas are born. And you've seen this beautiful granddaughter, not screaming maybe, is born for you. But it can also be seen meeting a beautiful teacher. Or somebody could just say, could you help me across the street? So there's many situations where this thought can arise. It's not always agony. Sometimes it's a beautiful face of a child

[51:13]

which is like the face of a Buddha. When my daughter was born, when that head came out, I thought, oh my God, just like a Buddha, a Buddha face. So it can arise, but it doesn't arise by me making it arise. It arises in intimate relationship with grandchildren, in pictures, when they're being born, and when they're suffering. there's many situations there's unlimited situations in which this wish can arise and none of them are the bodhisattva makes it arise by herself she always is in communion but that mind does not always arise even though we're in communion it doesn't always arise we're always in communion but it doesn't always arise but when it does arise That's how it arises, by communion.

[52:16]

And we can practice getting ourselves ready for that communion. And those are the practices that are coming up, is to help us be ready and open to the communion where this thought will arise again and again, obviously the first time and again. Yes? You were speaking about this great awakening. And you're speaking about this great awakening and not going after it as something to get. And also synonymous with that, that which has no abode. And we're also speaking about his question, settling down the mind, which came to mind to me of this, the tendency to try and have what we can realize is that that bush has no bone that's right here.

[53:22]

My experience shows up as what's kind of obscuring the view and getting in the way. And I wonder if you could speak a little bit more about that settling down so that we could better receive. Yeah. Well, we've been sitting this morning until this talk started, and we're still sitting. But when you're sitting, you can be aware sometimes that without trying to get something, it's not very interesting. And then be generous towards that not very interesting, rather than try to get rid of it. not interesting and had something more interesting happen. But when it's not very interesting, it's a little bit more like what might happen if you're not trying to get something. You might be assailed by the demon, not very interesting. This is not very interesting.

[54:25]

I'm not getting anything out of this sitting. That's something to be kind to. It's not very interesting. But sometimes people do not have the problem of not very interesting because they're really interested in getting something. So this is not greed. We don't have a problem with not interesting. This is not boring. This is like get something. And when we notice that, we'd be just as kind to the greed to get something which can arise as we would to not trying to get anything and then be assailed by boredom. Or what also can happen is you're sitting and you're not trying to get anything, maybe, but something happens and you're trying to get rid of it, which is the reverse of trying to get something. So when we notice we're trying to get rid of what's going on or we're trying to get something, like Great Awakening, then we practice compassion with that.

[55:31]

And we acknowledge, we confess, I noticed I'm trying to get something. And I'm sorry. And then you come down. And then again you might notice I'm trying to get something. And I confess it. I'm trying to get a great awakening. And I noticed it. And now I confess to great awakening. Hello, great awakening. I confess I'm trying to get you. And great awakening says, I hear you. Thank you for your confession. And are you sorry? Yes, I am. The Great Awakening says, this is the pure and simple color of true practice. Please continue this practice. And if this trying to get me again comes, I hope you notice it and confess and repent. Can you say that all of that could also be synonymous with just relaxing and that becomes sort of light mindfulness?

[56:32]

Relaxing is very close to being being generous with what's going on. However, relaxing is a little bit more advanced than just being generous. So first, if you've got something like trying to get something out of meditation, first thing to do is be generous with it. And that already starts succumbing. Try to push away trying to get something. You just aggravate the situation. You're just tensing up more. And next is be respectful and careful of this wish to try to get something or this wish to get rid of something. Be respectful and gentle with it. Next, be patient with it because it's painful to try to get something out of life. So practice patience with the pain of trying to get or the pain of trying to get rid of. Then we're ready to be enthusiastic about all these practices, and now we're ready to relax.

[57:39]

But you can't really relax with something if you're fighting it. So first we do these peaceful practices of generosity, ethical discipline, and patience. And then we're ready to like, okay, now we're ready. I'm ready to relax. This is going to be really great. Not by making myself relax, but by thinking about how good it would be and how I'm allowed to relax. It's okay to relax because I've been diligent taking care of my greed. And then you enter the samadhi and receive the teaching. I think you are next, maybe. You say not abiding in their abodes. But their abodes and not abiding.

[58:44]

Their abodes to learn how to not abide. And I question you, how can one not totally abide before Before they even have the understanding, there's no need. So, again, you said, how can one totally abide before you have an understanding? How can one not totally abide in what is, in the opposed? Okay, can I do it right there? If you do totally abide, there's no room for trying to get anything. And then you realize non-abiding. We don't totally abide. We half-heartedly abide. Abiding is part of being half-hearted. So if you totally abide, you will understand there's nothing, there's no abode. So when you say not abide, it means don't go half-hearted.

[59:48]

Don't go half-hearted or don't try to get away from the abiding. That's what you call it. Just like, okay, I'm abiding, and then how do I be wholehearted with this abiding? Confess it. And saying, I'm sorry, it's Because abiding is basically an expression of half-heartedness. It looks like that might be enough for this morning. We have a few thousand more pages to do this afternoon. We did two this morning. Yeah, there's just So again, I don't want to make you seasick or overfeed you, so I'm trying to take little bites and put them chill on. Like brown rice. This is because she really appreciated the way the students at Tassahara chewed their brown rice.

[60:54]

And if you chew brown rice, you'll realize there's no abode. In the meantime, you'll realize that brown rice tastes like peanut butter. Just like with Chinese medicine, Chinese herbs, most people, when they first start drinking them, they taste bitter. But my experience was, as I kept drinking them, gradually they started to taste like Coca-Cola. I could find there was a sweetness that came in opening to the bitterness. And some people say that, you know, Zen's a bitter teaching with a sweet fruit. Right? Like that famous story of the man who falls off a tiger chasing the man, and he comes to the cliff and doesn't want to jump off, so he finds some rope or some vine, and he goes down on the vine, holds the vine, or the rope, I guess, so the tiger can't get him.

[62:16]

This is like a bitter tiger conversation, and then he notices that the tiger The rope is starting to fray and come apart and he might be fallen to death. This is kind of a bitter situation. Some other words you might be able to come up with too. But anyway, and then being there, he notices being there, being there, settling into this situation. settling into this situation, he saw something that he didn't see before he settled. Before he settled, he was worried about the tiger and the fallen. Now he's settled into this very precarious situation of life. And it's not pleasant to be hanging by this thing. And he sees something because he is able to be there with this unpleasant life.

[63:19]

What does he see? In the story I heard, he sees a strawberry. And he lets go of the rope with one hand. Maybe he keeps holding on with his mouth. He gets the strawberry. But anyway, he gets the strawberry and eats it. And it's really sweet. That comes to mind. Is that enough for this morning? Yes, Linda. Just a little leap here. I had a question about when you were on the radio and on KQED, and you said it was a deadly pause. What happened after that? No, we were talking, and I think he noticed that sometimes he would say something, and then there would be a some pause we wouldn't necessarily come in right away he would ask a question and some of us would just be quiet for a while and he appreciated that, that's why he invited us but then on the break we were discussing and he didn't tell us don't do that anymore he just said he noticed that there was more pauses in our conversation than sometimes there are and yeah and then he said

[64:51]

But on radio, these silences are really deadly. However, I later did an interview, a video interview, and we were talking, and he made small pauses in what he was saying. Because on video, you can see, he's still there. Michael Krasny is still there, even though he's being quiet. He was actually quite well-paced on the video. No problem with being silent, because you had these two... old faces there to look at. And you can just enjoy them even though they aren't talking. But I didn't feel inhibited to be quiet by Hildeson. I just thought they were really interesting. Usually on the radio, people don't dare to be quiet for very long. Another follow-up comment. I don't know who's going to be in the conversation about Spotify. I'll be there, but I'll just say

[65:52]

I think a lot of good could come in the world if your talks were available. Spotify is a fairly excellent platform. Thank you for your comment. And I think some other people might agree with you. Especially since my talks have silence in them. So people go on Spotify and then they run into some silence. Whoa, I didn't know this guy was going to be quiet that long. Turn that off. Yeah, so to get silence into Spotify, this might be a way to infiltrate Spotify with silence. Of course, there already is. Of course, music has rests in it, right? So there already is rests, but they're not for as long as on these talks. Yes, Deborah and then Linda. I just got snagged a bit in the reading of works such as Child of Middle-Birth, Child of Good Family.

[67:01]

It just sounds hierarchical to me. And Prince, so you helped. Yeah, so, well, we aren't there yet, but I'll just briefly say that noble birth means that you're born in the presence of a Buddha. That you're born out of teachings. You're born out of practice. So the person you are now is a person who is born out of your practice so far. And that's a noble birth that has come as a result of, or in the womb of your practice. Your kindness to your son, when you're born of that, that's a noble birth. And the thing about prince, I know there's a problem with prince. But it has that meaning of just, this is the first one. This person's turn to be anointed.

[68:02]

This is a path about everybody getting their turn, when it's their turn. When it's time for them to be the first, they will be the first, and then anointing them so they can do their work. this bodhisattva got anointed by that pattern. Linda? When the thought of awakening, the aspiration of awakening first arises, I can't really remember when it was the very first arising. Every arising seems like the first one to me. That's great. Because I forgot. That's great. That's great. But there might have been one before. Well, there were ones before. That reminds me of another kind of joke, is that when I first came to Zen Center, some of the scientists at UC Medical Center were doing research on brain waves of meditators.

[69:14]

And some people at Zen Center were invited to participate. But one of the things I... I heard, I don't know if this is true, but I seem to remember from back in the late 60s, they said when they... Do you have the bell? Would you get ready to ring the bell? Yeah. So they have the Zen meditators sitting, and they ring a bell, and then they had this oscilloscope or showing how their brain reacted to hearing the sound. So... the bell goes, and then the recording goes, you know, like that high, six inches high or two inches high, and then they do it again, and it's the same. Usually people, if you ring a sound like that, the first time it goes an inch high, the next time half an inch high, and gradually you ring the bell and there's no response.

[70:17]

But the meditators, every time you ring it, it's the same. It's like, oh, wow, a bell. Oh, wow, a bell. Oh, wow, a bell. So this is called practicing like a fool. Oh, wow. The children are like that too. Oh, wow. Again. Oh, again. Again. Again. Again. So there's something about the mind in meditation that it doesn't like, you may not like this, but it doesn't necessarily turn off. in relationship to what's happening. It's the same with everything in a way. Hopefully calm. So every moment seems like the first one. Great. Oh, wow! I'm so happy this happened. This might be the first time. Oh, wow! That's great. Okay, it looks like we are making, you know, ready to have, if you want, you could have some more chanting.

[71:26]

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